Stray dogs eradicated from city streets…

It’s not a new topic and the problem is as disturbing as it was the first time we aired the story. It’s the method used to eradicate stray dogs with the pill called strychnine—a brutal way to put the dogs to sleep, but it is legal. And many believe that the law needs to be changed to make the last hours of stray dogs a tad smoother. The City Council, over the last three days, has been poisoning stray dogs in the City. And the body count over that period is one hundred and thirty seven and counting. News Five spoke with the relevant parties on the issue, and got an idea of what pet owners can do to ease the problem.

Wayne Usher, City Councillor, Public Health
“We would be the first ones not to use strychnine. As a matter of fact, I have been saying this for much too long now. We’ve been trying to get the Belize Humane Society to come in and “put their money where their mouth is” because they are the ones who will need to work with us to administer these other things; the other drugs that they are proposing. They are the ones who have also outlined the alternate to strychnine for us yoh noh. They are the professionals. Their method is to shoot the dogs with a tranquilising drug which they have to do, put them to sleep, take them up to their shelter up the road at four miles and then they either revive them if they have mange or rabies, offer them for adoption by members of the public and then those who are beyond that then they would put them down in a humane manner.”